The conservative boycott pushed its way into June and legacy media were happy to show their pride defending Target.
The press blasted the store’s critics, calling them "bigots" and "weirdos," comparing them to "QAnon" followers who are committing "politically driven cruelty."
Nowhere was the support stronger than at CNN, which must have stolen the Skittles motto, "Taste the Rainbow." The channel’s hilarious "Reliable Sources" newsletter began its June 2 effort with, "Prepare yourself for a Pride Month imbued with callous intolerance."
Senior media reporter Oliver Darcy wasn’t done. Darcy, you might recall, was warned by his embattled boss Chris Licht about negative coverage of CNN itself. This time he found a topic that both he and the network despise – conservatives. And it showed.
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Darcy depicted the companies being boycotted as innocent victims "as right-wing media has smeared and incited boycotts against" them. "Written in black and white, the attacks look deranged," he wrote. "It isn’t quite QAnon, but it’s close," Darcy added.
CNN Business reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn tried a different tactic, rationalizing Target’s massive stock drop. This came the day after JPMorgan downgraded the stock and dropped the price target for 12 months down the road.
Meyerson’s story was headlined: "Here’s the real reason Target’s stock is dropping." He claimed, "Target’s stock has lost about a fifth of its value over the past two and half weeks. It’s not about what you may have heard."
He argued that the stock had dropped since it reported earnings five days before the boycott began and even cited an expert. He wrote, "The culprit for all these stock drops is not clothing for LGBTQ consumers and allies, said Berna Barshay, a veteran research and investment analyst. It's ‘general retail and consumer jitters. Retail is just very out of favor right now, so all the stocks in the sector are overcorrecting.’"
The Axios report on the same issue, the very same day was quite a bit different. "Since the boycotts began, Target's share price has dropped 14%, from $152 to $131." Axios noted that, "the share price of Walmart, which has a Pride line but hasn't been in the crosshairs, is only down about 1% during the same period."
Oopsie.
CNN wasn’t alone. The Washington Post, USA Today, Reuters, NBC News and others all rose to criticize the boycotts with varying degrees of venom. The New York Times buried the controversy and hasn’t even mentioned the Target boycott since May 25.
The Post turned to Lindsay Schubiner "who studies violent movements for the Western States Center, an anti-extremism watchdog." She managed to depict a boycott movement as both "anti-democracy actors" and one of the "anti-democracy movements in the U.S." She said the term one more time, earning herself a far-left hat trick. The article also used some form of the word "extremist" six times. Subtle, huh?
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Schubiner’s Twitter bio describes her as "Countering white nationalism," which has zip to do with the protest. Not that Posties care. It’s all about bashing conservatives.
One of the most humorous ways the press defended Target was how they depicted designer Erik Carnell, whose firm sold a few products in the store. Carnell is transgender and appears to be a "Satanist" with a brand that sports occult imagery and a message that actually says, "Satan respects pronouns."
The Post described that as "how he got smeared as Satanist." Ummm, I’m not the one marketing stuff citing Satan. So here’s Carnell’s Instagram defense where he says he went with a design based on Baphomet. I’ll let you decide:
"Satan loves you and respects who you are; you’re important and valuable in this world and you deserve to treat yourself with love and respect. LGBT+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against God’s will, so fine. We’ll hang with Satan instead.
Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty. He means to you what you need him to mean. So for me, Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love."
I can’t imagine why people say he’s a Satanist.
Reuters noted how, "Some conservative news outlets and Republican politicians labeled Carnell and his designs - which are printed on pins, stickers and T-shirts - ‘Satanic.’" Duh.
Columnists were appropriately mad as hell at the right. LA Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik referred to Target critics as a "braying mob of anti-LGBTQ+ reactionaries." (Business?)
Former New York Times public editor turned openly leftist Guardian columnist Margaret Sullivan framed the issue as, "Gay and trans people deserve to live without persecution in the US. Why is that so hard?"
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She called the boycott an "ugly strategy," "politically driven cruelty" and "a way to persecute an already vulnerable population." She even cited leftist NBC News "dystopia" reporter Ben Collins, who described the boycotts as "a far-right harassment campaign that is being laundered through the mainstream media."
USA Today columnist Rex Huppke summed up the media’s view nicely: "As Pride Month begins, a message to Target boycotters: 'Get lost'" He claimed that, "Target stores were targeted by online bigots" "acting like a bunch of weirdos." He threw in a phrase sure to appeal to his editors, an "online tornado of opportunistic bigotry."
So far, Huppke and the others aren’t getting their wish. The boycott is going strong. Target, and Bud Light, are both going poorly. For an added bonus, alt-right rapper Forgiato Blow hit No. 1 on the iTunes charts with his new song, "Boycott Target." The song came out last week and was still No. 10 as of this writing.
And the best part is that the more the media obsess about the boycott during Pride Month, the more they will keep the boycott alive.
